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Pin lock to ball lock

Kegging
#1

Has anyone ever took a pin lock keg and converted it to a ball lock keg. I found a kit that changes the pin lock fittings to ball lock fittings but Im wondering about the lid. The pin lock lid has a one time use pressure release but the ball lock lid has just a pull tab style pressure release that you dont have to replace when you use it.

I just want to know if the ball lock lid can fit in the pin lock keg.

And for anyone whos wondering why I want to do this, for the size of the kegs to fit in my fridge plus the price of the two kegs. Thanks for the help guys.

#2

Yes I’ve done the conversion. From what I can tell no you cannot use the lids from a ball lock. You have two options here. First buy new lids with the pressure release valve. Second, do what I do, I use my faucet wrench and use the gas post to release pressure, works perfectly. I was given a bunch of pin lock kegs from a restaurant closing and this is the route I chose.

#3

You can also buy one of these cheap and just pop onto gas post to relieve pressure without unscrewing the whole post. Or just depress the poppet with a mini screwdriver, nail, Etc…

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?mai ... ts_id=1451
#4

Pushing a spare gas disconnect onto the post does the trick, too.

There are kits for converting pin lock lids over to a ball lock style PRV, but from what I’ve seen they’re not much less expensive than replacing the whole lid.

#5

Wouldn’t it just be easier and cheaper to buy pinlock disconnects rather than replacing the posts and lids? You can still vent from the post by depressing the poppet.

#6

I’ve always wondered that myself. I’m using pin locks because so far that’s been the less expensive option for me. But if I came into a trove of ball lock kegs, what’s to stop me from doing that? I’m already using MFL fittings on all my lines, so swapping out disconnects would involve zero effort.

#7

Replacing the posts and lids would definitely not be the cheap way. Adventures in homebrewing has pin/ball conversion for $9.99, I can vouch they work perfect.

#8

why not just run them as pin lock? The only advantage i see with ball lock is the pressure release, but i see one major disadvantage, which is price. I’ve been running pin locks and i don’t see any issue with the posts. I really wonder why ball locks are so popular all the time.

#9

The lids are interchangeable except in most cases unless you have the race track one.

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